<< Back 6/26/02 Guide catalogs sources for purchasing local produce SMN Where can you find locally grown food? Many people want to buy locally grown food but just don’t know where to look. Now they have a way to find local food. The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) has published the Buy Appalachian Local Food Guide, a guide to fresh locally grown foods from the mountains of Western North Carolina. This free guide can be picked up at area businesses that support local agriculture and on the web at www.BuyAppalachian.org . This 40-page guide includes listings of local farms, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), tailgate markets, restaurants, grocers, and others that sell or process local farm products. “This is an important resource for consumers that value local food — now they have a guide” said Charlie Jackson, Projects Coordinator for ASAP. “The great thing about eating locally grown food is that, not only do you get to ‘eat your landscape’ by making sure the food you eat keeps our local farms viable, you get the freshest, most nutritious, and best tasting food available.” Most of the food consumed in our area travels an average 1,500 miles before reaching the consumer. This means that a large part of the food dollar actually goes to transportation and packaging instead of the farmer. And fresh food loses nutritional value very quickly. Leafy greens can lose 50 percent of their nutritional value in five days, but on average it takes 6 days from harvest to the kitchen table. Locally grown food can often be bought the day it is harvested. Good chefs know that the best food is made with the freshest ingredients. According to Gerri Barraco, owner of the Bridge Street Cafe in Hot Springs, “We buy from local farms because we want to support the local economy and make sure that our local farmers can keep farming, but primarily we buy local for the quality. Our local farmers care so much about the land and the food they grow, there is a lot of love involved in the process. Freshness and varieties grown for their taste and not for their ability to travel great distances make the best food.” Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a direct connection between the farmers and the consumers. To join a CSA is to buy a share of the season’s harvest. The farmer gains the security of knowing he or she has been paid for a portion of the harvest and the farmer’s community participates in how and where their food is grown. Another direct sale is through tailgate markets. There are more than 30 tailgate markets throughout Western North Carolina, each reflecting the local community and the farming conditions of the area. “This Local Food Guide is really needed,” said Missy Huger of Jake’s Farm in Candler. “Many people are confused by roadside stands and ‘farmers’ markets’ that are not farmers. This guide has information on the tailgate market that are made up of local farmers.” The Local Food Guide lists the more than 30 tailgate markets with a weekly updated “fresh at the tailgate market” listing for many of the local markets. Huger sells her farm’s products at tailgate markets, CSA’s, on-farm sales, and through Carolina Organic Growers, a marketing cooperative made up of small family farms. The first printing of the Local Food Guide will be available throughout the region and online at www.BuyAppalachian.org. Farms and businesses that wish to be added to the web site can download application forms. “Businesses must sign a ‘contract’ where they pledge to buy local and increase their purchases of local food” said Jackson. “When you go to a restaurant or grocer listed in the guide, ask for dishes that contain locally grown food. Restaurants and grocers need to know that people want local and they will respond by buying more from local farms.”